For more than two decades I have owned Air Arms pcps. They have served me incredibly well and have never failed me. The oldest one (I still have it) is an S410 Side Lever in .22. The other "was" an S510 side lever in .177. Both rifles were unregulated when received but a few years ago, Scott Schneider at Motorhead installed Huma regulators in both and resealed them - the only time they were ever touched, except for me changing out the bayonet fill fittings for standard foster fittings and changing out the old style magazine indexing post for the much improved new style.
A few months ago, I sold the old poplar stocked .177. After a couple of months, I couldn't stand being without a replacement so yesterday a new .177 Air Arms S510 XS in walnut arrived from Pyramid Air. BTW, I ordered it on Sunday night and it arrived on Wednesday, the kind of great service one typically gets from PA.
I first cleaned the barrel, then installed the moderator adapter ordered from Donny FL (also arrived in two days), and fitted a Donny Fl Tanto moderator onto the rifle. I added a male foster adapter to the bayonet fill fitting to make it easy to change from my air tanks. Next came the mounting of Sports Optics30mm vertically adjustable rings topped off with a Hawke 6-24x56 30 SF IR Sidewinder scope.
Right out of the box, the rifle shot the AA Diablo Field Heavy 10.3 Gr Pellets at velocities between 970 and 980 FPS, or 21 to 22 FPE. This proved to be "too hot" as the groups were not nearly as good as I was used to from my previous Air Arms experiences, and there was at least a significant flyer with each group (testing at 18 yards indoors from sandbags). One of the huge improvements on the new S510s compared to my old one is that the power selector knob now has detents that hold the power selection in place. I dialed back one position and the velocity dropped to 920 to 930 fps. The groups were still not as good as I expected. I then dialed it back one more position, and found the sweet spot. Perfect sub moa groups, averaging 855.4 fps, producing just over 17 fpe. As you can see below, the 10 shot groups pulled into a two group average of only .145. I set the scope stops and consider the rifle now ready to go.
For those that may not own either, I thought you might like to have some comparative comments between the .177 AA S510 and the .177 Daystate Wolverine R I purchased a few months ago. They are as follows:
A few months ago, I sold the old poplar stocked .177. After a couple of months, I couldn't stand being without a replacement so yesterday a new .177 Air Arms S510 XS in walnut arrived from Pyramid Air. BTW, I ordered it on Sunday night and it arrived on Wednesday, the kind of great service one typically gets from PA.
I first cleaned the barrel, then installed the moderator adapter ordered from Donny FL (also arrived in two days), and fitted a Donny Fl Tanto moderator onto the rifle. I added a male foster adapter to the bayonet fill fitting to make it easy to change from my air tanks. Next came the mounting of Sports Optics30mm vertically adjustable rings topped off with a Hawke 6-24x56 30 SF IR Sidewinder scope.
Right out of the box, the rifle shot the AA Diablo Field Heavy 10.3 Gr Pellets at velocities between 970 and 980 FPS, or 21 to 22 FPE. This proved to be "too hot" as the groups were not nearly as good as I was used to from my previous Air Arms experiences, and there was at least a significant flyer with each group (testing at 18 yards indoors from sandbags). One of the huge improvements on the new S510s compared to my old one is that the power selector knob now has detents that hold the power selection in place. I dialed back one position and the velocity dropped to 920 to 930 fps. The groups were still not as good as I expected. I then dialed it back one more position, and found the sweet spot. Perfect sub moa groups, averaging 855.4 fps, producing just over 17 fpe. As you can see below, the 10 shot groups pulled into a two group average of only .145. I set the scope stops and consider the rifle now ready to go.
For those that may not own either, I thought you might like to have some comparative comments between the .177 AA S510 and the .177 Daystate Wolverine R I purchased a few months ago. They are as follows:
- Both rifles are incredible and a privilege to own.
- Stocks - very nice walnut on both. This AA is particularly nice figured dark walnut with a deep oil finish. I do think AA could finish the stocks in a manner that brings the grain out more, but they are still beautiful. The Daystate Wolverine stock has a "hard" finish on it and is much lighter but equally nicely configured. The Daystate stock has an adjustable butt pad (that I have never touched).
- Bluing - no other manufacture can duplicate the beautiful deep bluing of Air Arms rifles
- Magazine loading, capacity, and operation - The AA magazine is the most simple, easiest to load, trouble free magazine I have ever experienced, except for perhaps the Weihrauch HW100, FX Wildcat, or Kalibrgun Cricket magazines. It holds 10 shots, and rotates very smoothly and flawlessly. The Daystate magazines are 13 shots and have to loaded under spring tension - no big deal. I have had the drum screw work loose on a couple of my Daystate mags requiring some maintenance work and the use of a little bit of blue Loctite - but no big deal.
- With their respective moderators installed, both rifles are VERY quiet.
- Both rifles with their side lever designs are exceptionally smooth to operate.
- With the simple foster fitting, the Daystate is a little easier to fill, but again, not a big deal.
- The shot count on the Daystate because of the bottle is exceptionally higher, though I can easily get 60 shots or more out of the AA (I have never shot either one in a session long enough to drop off of the reg). One feature I really like on the Wolverine is the dual gauges - one showing fill pressure and the other regulated pressure. At least one knows when you are getting close to dropping off of the reg.
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